Brave Cardiff knocked out of Challenge Cup after Connacht defeat

A brave second-half comeback wasn't enough as Cardiff's EPCR Challenge Cup campaign came to an end with a 35-20 defeat to Connacht in Galway.

The scoreline flattered Connacht and Cardiff competed very well but the Irish province had too much power for the Welsh club. Tries from Matthew Devine, Sean Jansen, Finn Treacy, Shayne Bolton and Paul Boyle along with a combined 10 points from the boots of JJ Hanrahan and Josh Ioane fired Connacht into the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup.

Rey Lee-Lo, Ben Thomas and Josh Adams scored Cardiff's tries while Callum Sheedy and Thomas kicked five points between them. Connacht started the stronger of the two sides as No 8 Jansen charged through the Cardiff defence before offloading to second-row Darragh Murray who was brought down in the 22.

The hosts spread the ball from side to side as they inched towards the line before diminutive scrum-half Devine sneaked over for the opening try with Hanrahan converted. Connacht held the upper hand physically, but Cardiff did look dangerous on the rare occasions they were able to string a few phases together as Sheedy claimed their first points of the game from the kicking tee.

Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.

Wales No 8 Taulupe Faletau was extremely prominent and had the knack of making post contact metres whenever he carried forward. On one occasion he burst through the middle of the Connacht defence before chipping ahead and regathering.

He was brought down five metres out which forced Mack Hansen to unlawfully kill the ball, leaving referee Luc Ramos no option but to send the Ireland international to the sin bin. Cardiff took a quick tap but spilled the